Hands on with the Nite Alpha-202

Tritium watches have always fascinated me. I have reviewed both Traser and Isobrite. So when I got the chance to review this Nite Alpha watch, I was pretty excited. This watch has two things I like most; tritium gas tubes, and it’s a dive watch. I wore this watch for a week straight and so far this has been a great watch for me. Read on and see if you feel the same.

The Dial

I really like the look of a nice blue sunburst dial and this one does not disappoint. The Nite Alpha is perfect for diving. It is simple, uncluttered, and very easy legible all lighting. The hour makers, hands, and bezel marker are lumed and will glow in the darkest areas without needing any light to charge. I will explain how that works later. This is a simple three-hander with date. The hands on this watch are mounted to a very reliable Swiss made Rhonda 715Li quartz movement.

The Case

The Nite Alpha case is made from stainless steel with a brushed finish. I really can’t find any issues with this case. Water resistance is a serious 990ft which will handle any type of diving you will ever do. This has a screw down crown and screw down case back. The bezel uses a ceramic insert which is very durable and more resistant to scratching. If you are like me, and sometimes accidentally smack your watch on something, you will appreciate the ceramic bezel. The bezel is 120 click, uni directional, and has no play at all. Movement is very tight feeling but still easy to rotate.

The Strap

I wear my watch from the moment I wake up to when I go back to sleep so comfort is very important for me. Nite uses polymer straps on this Alpha and I really like how it feel. The strap mounts perfectly to the case and since the lugs curve down on each side the watch just wraps around the wrist. Wearing this all day, every day, for a week now, I hardly notice it. I am not sure how their stainless steel bands are but I really like this polymer strap.

That incredible lume!

Using GTLS(Gaseous Tritium Light Source) for lume this watch is absolutely amazing in the dark. The wastch uses T100 tritium vials for lume. The glow comes from tiny glass vials filled with tritium gas, which is an isotope of hydrogen. These vials are coated with a phosphorescent paint which react with the tritium gas. The most common tritium watches use T25 tritium tubes which have 25 millicures of tritium gas. On the Nite watches, they use T100 tritium which has 4 times the amount of tritium gas. This creates two great things. The watch glows four times more brightly, and it also last twice as long. Most T25 tubes will glow up to 25 years but the T100 tubes can glow up to 50 years.

Overall Impression

Think its pretty obvious, I like this watch. As a certified master diver I understand the need for a good dive watch for backup. This is made for diving and I would trust this one. Although I normally don’t like quartz watches I feel there is do much good with this one that I could accept it. Still would like to see this one with an automatic movement. The price on this Nite Alpha is $580 USD and I feel that’s not a bad deal for a watch like this. If you like what you see go check them out at nitewatches.com.